I tried to add that FireBox to Retrozilla and it not work, we would need to make special builds. It is a good idea if it have simmilar commands in comparison with JAWS and NVDA. I think that FireBox was abandoned because NVDA is very easy to download and use. However, I think that we could try to compile NVDA with the Python 2.6/2.7 for Windows 95 and make a build which probably would work with Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98 and Windows ME with the most updated MSAA for those systems.

Hi Sergiaws. Doesn't help with a screen reader query but just trying to help. For RetroZilla would either of these extensions be useful. The download links still work but the extensions were not installed or tested. I can try to help with any installation issues.

NoSquint
http://xsidebar.mozdev.org/modifiedmisc.html#nosquint

TextZoom
http://xsidebar.mozdev.org/modifiedmisc.html#textzoom

Retrozilla should support .xpi Firefox extensions.

Are you sure-sure you attempted installing Firevox "properly"?

From the officail page/with official instructions?
http://firevox.clcworld.net/

AFAICR the Retroilla extensions installs is particularly finnicky:
https://msfn.org/board/topic/181416-retrozilla-community-edition/

So maybe you need to do it in two steps:
1) install the extensions on a surely compatible version of Firefox
2) IF the extensions work/solve your problem then proceed with Retrozilla and - if needed - adapt the extensions to it.

jaclaz

 

I made an experiment! I tried Retrozilla on Windows 10 with the last version of JAWS and with NVDA 0.6P3, ¡and it works! As I could see, Retrozilla displays the web differently in comparison with modern browsers. NVDA 0.6P3 activates the apropiate cursor, so is a big step in comparison with JAWS 6.20 and I can browse the web.

Firebox requires the Sapi5, so I asume it would use Sapi5 voice sintesizers so we would need an old Sapi5 sintesizer for Windows NT/98/ME. Apparently, the project was abandoned around 2008. What Firefox did you used at that time?

22 minutes ago, Sergiaws said:

I made an experiment! I tried Retrozilla on Windows 10 with the last version of JAWS and with NVDA 0.6P3, ¡and it works! As I could see, Retrozilla displays the web differently in comparison with modern browsers. NVDA 0.6P3 activates the apropiate cursor, so is a big step in comparison with JAWS 6.20 and I can browse the web.

Firebox requires the Sapi5, so I asume it would use Sapi5 voice sintesizers so we would need an old Sapi5 sintesizer for Windows NT/98/ME. Apparently, the project was abandoned around 2008. What Firefox did you used at that time?

FireVox can use Sapi5 but can also use the Java FreeTTS engine, and also Orca:

http://firevox.clcworld.net/voices.html

(again installing/setting it up for these other sinthetizers may need some work)

In 2008 the Firefox around should have been around version 3:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_early_version_history#Firefox_3

So, since even the FireVox page mentions XP and Vista, most probably a VM running either of XP or Vista (and with a suitable Firefox install) might be the "best" test environment.

jaclaz

 

I tried to install FireBox, and it don't start automatically as it would do another screen reader before installation. Moreover, it use another commands which combine various keys. I don't know if Firebox don't starts automatically because is the version 3.6.12 or because the Screen Reader requires a special command to start up. But I think that there would be necessary to modify all the commands in order to make it easier to use.

I discovered something. Jaws 7.10 works with Retrozilla better than other Screen Readers. I think this happen because Retrozilla is based on old versions of Firefox and Jaws 7.10 is the first version of Jaws which have a script for Firefox. That Jaws don't work on Win95 or NT4. Is important to remember that there are two versions of that Jaws 7.10, one for Win2k/XP and other for Win98/ME. I also tried to run the Win2k/XP version on Win98+KernelEX and discovered that Jaws installs some drivers which are different for Win9x and NT. The Win9x version have the letter a and the NT version have the letter U. Remember that you can't test the Jaws 7.10 for more than 40 minutes unless you have a license (usually in a flopy disk) or a crack for that version. You can find that Jaws 7.10 on the page "grossgang.com".

Before testing, I noticed that Jaws 7.10 and NVDA 0.6P3 don't detect some headings of some pages. It also don't detect some cells where you can write a text to search or login. For example, I can't login in the page "qcsalon.net" using Retrozilla because any screen reader detect that those are cells for writing. If anyone want to try Retrozilla with a Screen Reader, use Jaws 7.10 with Windows 98/me and NVDA 0.6P3 with Win2k or later. Unfortunatelly, nothing could be done with Win95 or NT4 unless it could be possible to port Jaws7.10's Firefox script to Jaws 6.20 (the last Jaws for Windows 95 and NT4).

In conclusion, there's no necessity to have a very modern screen reader for Win9x.

Hi Sergiaws. The default view in old RetroZilla is often broken for displaying all sorts of stuff, such as headers, links, pictures, input fields, etc. In RetroZilla try changing View -> Use Style -> None to see if it helps.

Thanks, I will try that.

I've got another question, does exist a player for Retrozilla? I answer this because that is a common element of modern browsers and I want to try to play audio in Retrozilla. If it exist, where can I find it?

Hi Sergiaws. To the best of my knowledge RetroZilla has no built-in players although helper applications can be configured via Edit dropdown -> Preferences -> Navigator -> Helper Applications. Then just use your favourite software to handle specific file types. Personally just download what i want then manually utilize the files.

Not sure if Jake Gross' site has any useful stuff for you.
https://msfn.org/board/topic/177106-running-vanilla-windows-98-in-2020/page/31/?tab=comments#comment-1186422